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Carnie Wilson had GB they showed it on the net the day she did it. Dee

Unless Sharon Osborne had a revision of some sort I remember her clearly saying that she had GB not lap band. My BIL plays for the Jets and Rex Ryan has Had lap band surgery as Loseit said. When I saw a pic of Drew Carey I did think that he had surgery but then on the other hand Men really do lose faster and more dramatically than women do. I never thought that JHud had surgery but I wouldn't be surprised. She said that she lost it doing WW and because she's an actress I don't think she would have surgery because what if she wants to do a part where she has to gain a lot. One thing I do know for sure is that if I were Oprah I would have had the surgery long ago and it would be called the O-Band. I know she's mega-rich and famous but I feel sorry for her weight loss struggle. She is clearly uncomfortable in her own skin and I know all too well how that feels. Dee

The fact that so many have had WLS makes me afraid that the show is going to be sending a message that WLS is too drastic and doesn't work. I'm newly banded and I really don't want to hear it. I love BL but it is also a false perception of permanent weight loss. What person that has a life can exercise 7-8 hours everyday and have personal trainers there to motivate them and work with them 1 on 1, show them what and how to eat and I'm sure pay them a nice chunk of change to take 2-3 months off from their life? I've also read former contestants say that as the finale comes up they fast , do cleanses and purges and all other kinds of tricks to win the big prize. I'm glad I didn't tell most people that I had surgery because I don't want to hear it. Dee

Ok, I just got back from my 1st fill. It was an interesting appt. today. I was a little nervous about the anticipated pain but my anxiousness to get my 1st fill overrode my nervousness. When I finally got in there the nurse weighed me so I adjusted my ticker today to reflect what their scale says. According to them I've lost 20lbs but according to my home scale which I feel is very accurate I have lost 23lbs. That's Ok though . when the PA came in she told me they were very happy with me and that I have done very well. I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask like how much my band holds ? 10cc Did I have any Fluid put in on surgery day? yes, approx. 1.5cc How much will I get today? approx. 2cc which bought me to a total now in band of about 3.5 - 3.8cc I was a little bummed by that because I wanted an aggressive fill but this is how they do it. I have drank Water and had a spoonful of yogurt since I got home (I'm starving) and I feel no different than I did yesterday. I hope I don't have another month or so of struggling and starving. I probably won't be able to tell until I resume eating which will be tomorrow. I was stressed about eating things which I thought I shouldn't too soon like a chicken caeser salad and some Healthy Choice Soup but when I talked to her today she acted like I should have been eating regular food. They are not strict about the stages of eating as long as you're OK. She also said I should stay away from the Protein shakes and concentrate on getting my protein from real food which is fine with me. She wanted me to see the nutritionist which is a waste. This chick has never told me anything I don't know and she really seems so uninterested. I asked her anyway about going on WW or any other diet plan and she said that it was unnecessary and that I should just concentrate on eating healthy and balanced since we are really not eating that much anyway. so I'm just a little confused but I think I will do WW for the next month to give me some structure and guidance and see how that goes. My goal is to be down another 20lbs by the time I go back to him. They didn't tell me when to come back but I'm going to go to the support group next week and ask and if I can go back in 4 weeks . Oh the fill was painless, I barely felt a slight needle prick as she inserted the needle and extracted what was in there to see how much it was and then inserted it back with more. Dee

I understand how you feel. I was hoping that too but like I said earlier I need structure. I think with the band when we hit good restriction that we will lose well without dieting because we just won't be eating much of anything but until then I need a plan to keep me on the straight and narrow. Without restriction I am hungry all the time and I need healthy , satisfying options. I like that with WW you can eat most everything within reason. Maybe I'm thinking wrong. Dee

Thanks ladies. I pulled out all my WW materials. I'm a little excited. :thumbup:

I'm sorry, but didn't he know he wanted the first one done under x-ray before today? These Doctors !!! How frustrating. Dee

Thanks for the heads up I just set my TIVO. Shurmeka , you're brave. I thought about it but couldn't imagine standing in front of the world with the spandex shorts on and sports bra :thumbup: Dee

Monica, That sounds great Please share if you're so inclined. We can trade meal ideas and tips. I've done WW so many times. I still have a lot of my info but I may send for the WW at home to get the latest info if the meeting times are inconvenient for me. I want to make this journey as stress free as possible. I want to enjoy the journey and not feel starved. When I did WW I had a lot of variety and choices like Lean Cuisines, Healthy Choice and deli-selects and salads all the things I like and I didn't feel starved. Still thinking about it but leaning more towards it because I love low carb but I need a lot of structure. Dee

Kelly, I was just wanting to respond to you in the B&A thread but the mods are gonna kick us out of there because that thread is for pics only. I'm a low carb fan too but now I'm thinking that I may do Weight Watchers on a low carb tip so that I can have more balance and be able to eat yogurt, soup and my flat out wraps when I'm craving a sandwich and I can even make a pizza with the flat out wraps. The Winter is coming I crave hot soups and chili and stew in the Winter. I'm not much of a sweet eater but when I crave I also want to have a Skinny Cow Ice cream sandwich or Fudge bar (1-2 pts each) they are delish. We are all in about the same range of losses. I'm hoping that by the end of next month I will be down at least 30lbs. I think I'm gonna set up some mini-goals that are realistic and hopefully attainable. I can't wait for my fill tomorrow. My appt. is for 9:45. I'll be there bright and early. Dee

Wow Amanda, I can see how that would be discouraging because you felt you had nothing in your band and your starving and hoping for your 1st fill so that you can get some restriction and then you find you already have 3cc's in there. I hope I don't find the same thing tomorrow when I get my 1st fill. Hopefully this 1cc will help you to have a little more restriction. I don't think I have anything in my band. I will be discouraged too if I go there tomorrow and he already tells me I have some fluid in my band. BUmmer!!

I am 5 weeks out and feel like I can eat almost anything too. Last week I had a craving for a sandwich of course I didn't have big slices of bread but I got a tip from another bandster to use the flat out wrap and I did that. That turkey sandwich was soooooo good. I'm due for my 1st fill on Wednesday the 22nd and I can't wait. I'm so afraid that I did all of this just to be on another starvation diet and it's making me very depressed. I don't want to have this feeling because other than this "bandster hell" I am so happy about my band and the hope I feel.

My pain right after surgery was btwn a 0-1. I could not believe it !! I asked for pain meds the 1st night so that I could sleep not for pain. I should have just ask for a sleep med cause i still didn't sleep at all. I just can't sleep in hospitals. The gas pains were not bad at all either really negligible. I chewed some Gas-X and that resolved that. So from all the answers I guess that you will have to see for yourself what yours will be. It seems to vary from case to case.

Kelly, I'll be joining you. I have my first fill on Wednesday 9/22. I need that badly because my hunger has really increased and even though I am eating much less because of the built in restriction with the band . I am eating a lot of things I know I shouldn't. After Wednesday I'll be on liquids again for a couple of days I assume and then after that I'll be able to eat what I want hopefully and I will be having chicken and beef and fish and turkey and cheese and I'll be happy. I can't wait. I think I'll do much better when I'm really cleared to eat what I want and I can truly plan my low carb thing. I feel guilty now for eating chicken and things that I'm not really cleared for like regular soups but I have had no problem with them and I feel great otherwise. Dee

I made that white chicken chili off the Bariatric Eating site last week. It was really good but next time I think I'll add more spice to it. I like spicy. That site has a lot of good recipes for us. Hormel also has a white chicken chili in a can that is not too bad. I keep it in the cabinet for those days when I don't feel like cooking for myself and need something filing.

From what they told me when I was in the hospital it seems to be a pretty common thing for people to come down with pneumonia after surgery. They wanted me to take something to prevent it when I was being discharged but it would have taken them another hour to get the meds so I passed. I had already stayed overnight and waited all morning for them to release me I was ready to be out of there. I hope you feel better soon.

I have the New whey Protein. It's alright but I don't like the smell as you raise the drink to your mouth. I got through one tube by mixing it in with my Crystal lite or Diet Snapple. The other ones I threw in a drawer , out of sight out of mind.

Yeah....Costco is the bidness!! I'm gonna have to check out more high Protein options when I go back. I just bought the big bag of frozen shrimp from them and a case of Diet Snapple tea.

Oooh, glad to hear I was not alone. I too had not told my Hubby just how much I weighed. I was so ashamed of myself. So my actual weight was a well guarded secret. I've been married for 21 years and the heavier I got the worse I felt. Especially because my Hubby is tall , very handsome, a little younger than me and very fit. He works out regularly. A couple of days before my surgery I decided I had to come clean because he was going to the hospital with me and I was afraid it would come up with him sitting there. I sat him down and told him the truth and he was shocked. He said he didn't realize that I was that heavy and that was it. He was even nicer to me after that and very loving and caring . When I was being rolled out of the OR following surgery he saw me and yelled out "I love you Dee!!" I made a good choice and I feel so much better that I don't have that secret between us any more.

I'm going to start this on MOnday. I've had the app on my iPhone since forever now that I'm banded it's time to get it going. Sounds like a good way to increase my losses.

I have GHI through the city of NY. I don't know whether it's a PPO. I know its not an HMO. The only thing I can tell you is that it takes them at least a month to approve . I never heard from them that you have to be a certain BMI however, mine was over 40 and I had co-morbidities. I had to do a 6 month supervised diet. My Dr's staff was negligent in submitting my papers on time but when I contacted GHI they were very nice and even though the surgeon's office told me it would take from 6-8 weeks for GHI to approve when me and my DH got on the case they approved in about 3 1/2 wks. I know the OP's post is very old but when I went to NYU they did not accept GHI. They were my 1st choice. If you need a surgeons rec that accepts GHI PM me even though his staff was horrible to me the surgeon himself was great. He did my surgery and I had no pain at all and minor gas pain I feel funny to say the word pain because it wasn't even like that. I just had my surgery 8/16/10 and I know how you feel.

I kinda feel that way too as long as it doesn't bother me I will not bother it.

timandmich, Thanks for sharing. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I have never heard of that happening before. That's why its good to share. You don't know maybe your post will help someone to slow down after their fill and prevent a serious problem. I have never heard of an overfill making your BP rise like that. Very scary. I got a tip from looking at one of the Vlogs of a lapbander on Youtube about using light Flatout wraps to make a tuna sandwich so I went out last night and bought 4 pkgs. They come in different flavors like spinach, sundried tomatoes, wheat and original .They are really good and a very band friendly "bread" plus 1 pc is 90 calories and has 9g of protein each. I made a turkey wrap and had that with 3 mini kosher pickles...scrumpdiliumptious!! I just realized that today is my 1 month surgiversary. I sure wish I was down 30lbs by now but hopefully by the end of next month I will be down 30 lbs. I know this is not quick weight loss but I can't help but wish. Dee

Yes most likely that large lump right above your largest incision is your port. My port is about the size of a quarter and it is right under my breasts more towards the right side . It sticks out noticeably. I'm going to ask my surgeon about it when I go for my 1st fill.

I want to know . We're all learning. I hope you didn't have too much of a bad time. Dee